Happy Trinity 12
St. Mark 7:31-37
August 18, 2024 anno Domini
Happy 12th Sunday after Trinity. Did you buy anyone a card? Plan a special meal? Buy any of those dedicated Trinity 12 decorations from Target?
Did you know that today you could also celebrate the following days?
- National Bad Poetry Day
- National Ice Cream Pie Day
- Helium Discovery Day
- National Couple’s Day
- Never Give Up Day
- Pinot Noir Day
- Serendipity Day
- World Breast Cancer Research Day
- National Fajita Day
- National Mail Order Catalog Day
- God’s Preeminence Day
At least they got God in there at the end. The Church has her own calendar and it’s a far better calendar than the world. One of the things you’ll notice about the world’s calendar is that it’s all about you. The Church’s calendar is all about Jesus. It’s not about you, but it’s a better calendar for you.
The earliest church calendars rehearsed the life of Jesus and remembered the deaths of the Martyrs, those who witnessed to Him at the cost of their lives. In the month of August, these Sundays after Trinity were affected by one particular Saint, Saint Lawrence. He is honored on August 10.
Lawrence was born in Spain but travelled with a good friend to Rome. There the friend was elected Bishop. If we were Roman Catholic, we would acknowledge him as Pope Sixtus II. Sixtus appointed his good friend Lawrence as his chief deacon. Lawrence had charge of all the church offerings, from which the bread and wine were set aside for the Lord’s Supper, and from which gifts were given to the poor and needy. Around this time the Roman Emperor Valerian issued an executive order than anyone denounced as Christian would be put to death. As a result, the Christians met in secret, but one night a large group of clergy were arrested conducting the liturgy in a cemetery. Sixtus was beheaded and Lawrence was brought before the emperor. The government always wants more of other people’s money and Valerian was no exception. He knew the church always spoke of her treasure and riches. He gave Lawrence three days to gather the riches of the church and deposit them at Valerian’s feet. Lawrence imitated the shrewd manager we heard about a few weeks ago. He took all the money and goods the church had and distributed them to the poor and needy of Rome. Then Lawrence gathered all those poor, decrepit souls and brought them before Emperor Valerian and said, “Behold, the treasures of the church.” Nothing gets an Emperor more upset than a loss in revenue. He had Lawrence bound to a red-hot iron grate, but Lawrence died with joy. Part way through his death by roasting he cried out, “You’d better turn me over. I’m done on this side.”
You can hear Lawrence echoed in today’s Introit, “Make haste, O God to deliver me! O Lord, make haste to help me! Let them be put to shame and confusion who seek my life.” And in the collect “Help us steadfastly to live in this life according to Your promises and finally attain Your heavenly glory.” That’s the example Lawrence sets for us and certainly points us to far greater riches than National Mail Order Catalog Day.
By now, if you’re good Lutherans you should be asking, “Well, all that’s fine and good pastor, but is there a text in our future?” Your job isn’t to regale us with stories from church history but teach us God’s Word. So on to the text.
And looking up to heaven, Jesus sighed and said to him, “Ephatha,” that is, “Be opened.” And his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly.”
Jesus sighed. He groaned. Why? Jesus may have been groaning over the damage that sin had caused not just to this man, but to every one of us. This man stands like every sinner before he comes to faith. He had ears but could not hear. He had a tongue, but he could not speak the truth. Jesus groaned because he saw you in this man, a sinner, who without the Holy Spirit, cannot and will not hear the Word, and whose mouth is incapable of confessing the truth. This is the damage sin does, not just to our bodies, but to our souls.
It’s also possible that Jesus groaned because once He opened the man’s ears, he could hear false teaching, and his tongue could blaspheme. This is the danger of God granting you freedom. When Christ sets you free from sin and death, sometimes you falsely believe its okay to sin and flirt with death. You lend your ears to the fear-mongering news anchors and put your hope in men instead of God. You use your tongue not to praise God for all the good you have received, but to grumble about all you don’t have. You presume that salvation is one and done and that you need not be careful about what you listen to or how you speak. Jesus grieves and groans over every sin. Do you?
Besides Jesus groaning the other difference of this miracle is the way He performed it. Taking this man apart by himself, sticking his finger in the man’s ear, and putting some spit on the man’s tongue.
Jesus took the man apart by himself. This miracle teaches us we will never hear the Word of God unless Jesus takes us apart by ourselves. One of the names of the church in Greek is the “called out.” We need to be called out of the world. We need to be set apart from all the lies and grumbling and false promises to have Jesus work on us. If you’re not hearing what I’m saying it is this, “You cannot be a Christian if you don’t go to church. You cannot remain a Christian if you don’t go to church.” Why? Because you are not hearing the Word of God preached and you’re not receiving the Sacraments which He gave you for life, and you’re not gathering with your fellow saints to learn and practice love.
Jesus healed this man in a specific way – a finger in the ear and spit on the tongue. God works in peculiar ways. He forgave your sins in the flesh of a man, born of a Virgin, who died on a cross, one Friday outside of Jerusalem. His name was Jesus of Nazareth. Salvation is found in no other name under heaven. The Holy Spirit works in the water of baptism to bring you to faith in that Jesus. He works through His preached Word to sanctify your heart so that you love Jesus and obey God’s Word. He feeds you in the Lord’s Supper the only food that will keep you alive, the flesh and blood of Your Savior who died, but now lives. Only in Church through God’s Word does He open your ears to hear the true reality of His Kingdom, and teach your tongue to speak His language. Only by His Word will you know that you are the true riches of the Kingdom – that God loved you in this way, by giving His Son for you. Would you have ever learned to speak correctly if your mom and dad didn’t talk to you? Would you have learned your ABC’s if they didn’t speak them in the correct order? How can you expect to know and do the will of your heavenly Father if you don’t listen to Him? How can you trust Jesus if all your ears are filled with is the lies of the world and the false promises of fallen men and women?
How do you think Lawrence acquired the boldness to speak the truth to the emperor, that the riches of the church wasn’t money, but the people who had received mercy. How did he have the joy to shout out despite the pain in his burning flesh, “I’m done on this side. Turn me over.” How? The same way the deaf man heard, and then spoke clearly. Jesus took Lawrence aside, opened his ears to hear God’s Word, loosed his tongue to speak the truth, and strengthened his heart to obey God rather than man, even if that meant death. You’ll never learn that celebrating “National Ice Cream Pie Day” or any of the other silly, self-centered holidays of the world, but you will hear it, if you’re calendar revolves around Jesus and His saints, if you’re more interested in hearing preachers, than Pinot Noir, and more concerned about your feeding your faith, than eating Fajitas. In the name of Jesus. Amen.